Dreaming
The most powerful forces in the world originate from the mind. Dreaming is the universal magic found in Cleocadia, as well as just about everywhere else in the world. 'Magic' It is known the true nature of magic is dreams imposed upon reality. By manipulating one’s dreams, one can change reality. 'Dreamscape' Every caster has a unique mental space known as a Dreamscape – a mind palace which they enter while asleep. This place represents their magic. By exploring, expressing and advancing this space, they impose their dreams upon the world while awake. A Dreamscape can be anything, so long as it is related to the individual's magic. A druid might dream of floating islands covered with plants and animals, which they explore to uncover new spaces, representing new spells. A bard might wander an entire town inside their mind, where puzzles can be solved to unlock new areas and magics. Even if two dreamers study the same methodology from the same school, their individual minds will always make differences. Each Dreamscape is unique to the caster. 'The Deep Dreaming' Casters create their Dreamscape by entering the Deep Dreaming, which might be best imagined as a plane of thought accessed while one dreams. It is typically depicted as nebulae or neurons arcing over clouds of pink and purple, representing the purest essences of the mind. Supposedly, all knowledge can be found here – all that is, has been, and will ever be. Naturally, it is a tantalising prospect for would-be loremasters. While attempting to take in the entirety of the Deep Dreaming - all ''knowledge - would be a fool's errand, spellcasters succeed in grasping at tiny portions. Through their Dreamscape, a spellcaster accesses a pocket of the Deep Dreaming and calls it their own, fixing ideas into their head. Once these ideas, expressed in the form of '''spells', are brought into reality, they lose their clarity, disappearing into foggy memory. Hence why a spellcaster must sleep to recover their magic: to fix their spells in their mind once again. Minds typically enter the Deep Dreaming after death. Methods of Magic Though the aim of any magical method is to develop, master and express one's dreams, the way this is achieved is far from universal. The Chirellian Circuit Taught by the Rinespire, this is the most common form of arcane magic in Cleocadia. It predates the school by centuries, and is thought to have been conceived even before the old empire. The Circuit is thought of as a persistent field of energy that underlies the world, which can be called upon by understanding it. It manifests in spirals, recognised as magical even by other methodologies. The Rinespire teaches that spirals can be found in many aspects of the world: in plants (what would be the Fibonacci Sequence), in animals, in weather, in the stars, and in the Golden Ratio which the universe seems to follow. They achieve magic by matching this Ratio, spiralling energy into focused points which they use to bend physics. The Rinespire contends that spirals can be found in every magical effect. It is easily recognisable for the lights that surround its practitioners' spells: electric-blue circuitry that appears near the caster's focus, arcing at right angles before forming the edges of a circle, and swirling into a spiral. The centre of this spiral is the point at which the caster's spell manifests. The Circuit has proved particularly useful for artificers due to its correspondence with engineering principles. As such, the Rinespire has a hand in the vast majority of magic items made in the modern day. The Old Ways The tradition taught and followed by the many druids of the world, not just limited to Cleocadia. Its elder practitioners would say it predates any civilised magic. Speechcraft Sometimes known as 'the art of persuasion', this method views all things as open to persuasive influence - not just living beings, but inanimate objects, even the forces that bind the Waking World. It is commonly taught and achieved through other disciplines, particularly musical study and rhetoric. The centre of Speechcraft in Cleocadia is the Spokeforth Academy. Stonesmithing and Metallurgy While not methods of magic in and of themselves, these are practices used to enhance and draw out magic through material things. Dwarves practice stonesmithing, while Vellin practice metallurgy. Next: * Worship in Cleocadia. Category:Magic Category:Introduction Category:Cosmology